


Cinder and Smoke

by EllieBear



Series: Evening on the Ground [7]
Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: No Beta! We die like men!, VMTAP20, check in with our characters, coffee shop AU, continuation of the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24990235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieBear/pseuds/EllieBear
Summary: Logan and Veronica take a moment in Navarro's Cafe to reflect on the past and make plans for the future.
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Series: Evening on the Ground [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/655313
Comments: 18
Kudos: 51





	Cinder and Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've looked at this old favourite. Thanks to Jmazzy and the VM Fanfic Club for scratching this new idea out of my head for Trope-A-Palooza 2020.

Veronica was beginning to worry. Logan sat down at one end of the old couch in the coffee shop when they got back from the funeral two hours ago and hadn't left the spot. When Mr. Navarro died a few years ago, he was heartbroken but carried on. For his family. For her and for Mrs. Navarro. But with the death of "Mama Letty," whatever energy he had to give had given out. Mercifully, his show was in previews right now, so he was given some grace time to breathe while his understudy took on his role, because Veronica could not imagine him dragging himself up under the bright lights of Broadway every night right now. He could barely pick out a suit for the funeral this morning.

When they got to the coffee shop, he couldn't bring himself to venture upstairs, leaving her to go and look for the Will on her own. Thankfully, she found it relatively quickly in the big file cabinet as Mrs. Navarro was a fastidious bookkeeper. As Logan was not their biological child, they had to move quickly to probate her Last Will and Testament so they could keep the shop open and running, with the evidence for landlords and suppliers that they would eventually own the business outright. They had all of their employees -- and Dick, their trusty manager -- counting on a paycheque. This was when it was handy she was a district attorney. Her position offered some level of good faith and trust with people.

Scratching her protruding belly, she wandered back through the kitchen, ending up behind the coffee bar. The shop had been closed for two days now -- giving staff time off to mourn and attend the funeral today -- and she crouched to look at the cookies behind the glass display case, wondering if they would be any good. The baby stretched and moved inside her, and she took it as a sign to reach in and try one. As she slid back the glass door, a small gust of cool air swept past her face, making her feel momentarily refreshed. Reaching inside, she grasped a handful of large chocolate oatmeal cookies and pulled them out, closing the door back behind them. A deep sadness settled back into her heart as she realized this was the last time she would eat a Leticia Navarro cookie. It was still from the last batches she made a few days before she died and left in the refrigerator to bake. It was like somehow she knew she wouldn't be there the next day and, once again, took care of everyone and everything. Veronica wanted to preserve them, but then thought it would be an insult to her memory if they went to waste. They were made with love by Lettie, and this was the last bit of them left. Taking the stack with her, she snatched a couple of paper napkins with her other hand and proceeded back to Logan.

As she came around the couch, he barely registered her and stared blankly at the wall. It wasn't until she lowered her body down next to him with a groan of exertion that he turned, glancing from her belly to the cookies before chuckling.

"Are all of those for you?"

"No," she scoffed. "They're for the baby."

"The baby requested the cookies?"

"Yes. She sent a detailed message to me. _Grandma Letty's cookies oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, please, and thank you, mummy_."

Logan's eyes became glassy again, and Veronica instantly regretted her choice of words. "Logan I'm…"

"No. It's fine. Letty was already stuffing you with baked goods from the moment the stick turned blue. I'm pretty sure if the Peanut could talk in there, that's what she would say."

Taking the top cookie from the stack, she handed it to Logan, and he forced a small smile for her benefit.

"Seems a shame to let them go to waste," she stated.

He snapped the stale cookie in two, oblivious to the crumbs on his suit and placed one piece to his lips, closing his eyes as he took a bite. Veronica watched him chew for a moment before swallowing, a rumbling of satisfaction coming from his chest.

"It would be a shame. Dick is good at making them, but when this batch is gone…" His words tapered off, and Veronica's heart ached for her husband. It was one thing to lose one mother in a lifetime, but two seemed too much for one person to take.

"I still can't believe she could make them half blind."

He tapped his temple and shook his head. "She didn't need a recipe. All in her head -- that's why Dick's never taste quite the same. Plus, she could sleepwalk through that kitchen -- it's no wonder she could still cook in it even with her sight on the fritz."

Veronica lifted a cookie to her mouth and bit in. It was crunchier than usual, but the taste was still there, comforting in the familiar. How many of these had she consumed over the years? First, when she was in college when she and Logan were dating, then as a snack at her desk at work, after they married. Mrs. Navarro made sure that she and Logan never went hungry -- even during their lean years together in her old apartment when sometimes cookies and coffee was all they had for breakfast. And a few years back, when Veronica was hospitalized after her miscarriage, Letty took the subway across town and lied to the nurses, telling them she was her Grandmother, to deliver contraband Snickerdoodles to her bedside. Life without Leticia Navarro was going to be very hard to adjust to.

"It was better this way," Logan says, quietly, contemplating the other half of his cookie. "She said when Ernesto died that she didn't want to linger in the hospital for months like he did. I'm almost glad that Letty went to bed and never woke up, after what she went through with him, every day, just watching him fade. And it's small comfort that she's with him and Eli, now. I know I only went to church with her to make her happy, but I do believe in my heart that they are all together, and she's at peace, wherever she is in the universe."

Shuffling closer, Veronica rested her head against his shoulder, and his hand draped over her belly. The baby once again sensed her daddy and gave a kick, and his hand bounced from the vibration, and he smiled.

"I just wish she got to see the Peanut in real life, and not just on a fuzzy picture. She was so excited. And it was only a few weeks away from happening."

Logan stroked the black velvet dress covering Veronica's belly as she watched his path tracing in the fabric. The baby followed, moving around so much that Veronica had to lean back to make room.

"I know she was. But now Peanut has another guardian angel looking out for her." Veronica placed her hand over Logan's, and he paused, linking their fingers together. "And you know, if she takes after us, she's going to need it. You know they say break a leg, but they don't mean it."

Logan leaned down and kissed the rise in her belly, grinning. "You fall off the stage once during a rehearsal in college, and they never let you forget it. But you're not going to be an actor, are you, Peanut?"

"She's already smarter than our current president... I'm sure she could do that job, no problem."

"Or if you open your own law firm, she could work for you one day?" He winked.

"No. I wouldn't do that to her either." Veronica laughed.

Logan kissed her belly again before sitting up, leaving his hand laced with hers.

"She can be whomever she wants to be," he said. "Who knows...maybe she'll work here one day. Take it corporate. Franchise. Navarro's Cafes all over the United States."

"Or maybe she'll just be happy baking cookies and talking to customers for the rest of her life. We both know that big money doesn't necessarily make a person happy." Veronica grins. "Maybe she'll be behind that same counter and one day, meet the love of her life, and live happily ever after."

Logan blinked back tears once more. So many years between then and now when they first met, in this very room. So many he lost count a decade ago. All he focused on was the joy and the love that surrounded this place -- surrounded them. He could feel it still and knew that his daughter would feel it too.

"Yeah. That sounds like a good plan."

**Author's Note:**

> "Cinder and Smoke" is a song by Iron & Wine.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Covers (EllieBear stories)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24996892) by [VeronicaMarsFanArt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeronicaMarsFanArt/pseuds/VeronicaMarsFanArt)




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